


tell our dad i'm sorry

by orphan_account



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Closeted, M/M, Orphanage, joshler - Freeform, may be other bandom bits, set in England, small town
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-21
Updated: 2016-01-21
Packaged: 2018-05-15 09:29:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5780602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>lowercase intended </p><p>little angsty fic where tyler is scared and josh is strong</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

skeletons had always fascinated tyler. when he was younger, he had built one of those awful little structures for which the bones came in weekly subscriptions with a magazine that was always tossed to the side. he'd been a skeleton every halloween until he was eleven, when he lost interest in pretty much anything, but his skeleton obsession remained. nowadays, he was more interested in his skeleton, in the way his ribcage protruded just enough for each rib to be counted, in how each knob of his spine poked up against his pale skin. don't get this wrong, tyler wasn't vain, he didn't enjoy his physical appearance at all, but he worshipped bones and their purposes.  
he'd spent his life in catholic school, he was decent at the academics, but nobody payed any attention to that. the only way to catch the attention of the teachers was to attend church every single sunday, and be a perfect little altarserver until you were old enough to graduate into a bellringer, or a priest. initially, tyler had believed in god, heaven, hell, eternal damnation, anything. but now, at sixteen, he detested the mere idea of religion and got in many an argument with a religion teacher or a priest.  
it was because of such an argument that he found himself in his current predicament - that being absolutely fucking terrified. he had been kept behind in the shell of a school that was built on troubles, the top school for rugby and catholisism. because of this, he would be walking home right as his school's "rivals" the savage beasts that inhabited the rougher school in the area, were released from their pit. they would storm into the newsagents by the Home and immediately discover that he was an enemy. one way or another, he was going to get dragged into an alley and beaten. there was no way around it, it was inevitable. he was used to it by now anyway, as a skinny orphanage kid who wore glasses with no lenses because they made him feel closer to his father, who had been their original owner.  
so as he turned the corner and began the walk up the hill he was not surprised to be jumped by seven other sixteen year olds, each of whom was high from monster energy drinks and erratic from the prospect of beating somebody up.  
"it's faggot foureyes!"  
"poofy mcguie"  
"the specs don't even work, he's just a prick" the largest of the pack snarled, before knocking them off his face with a single groundbreaking blow. if tyler wasn't on the recieving end, he'd be suitably impressed. as soon as he hit the ground, the kicks began, and as the kicks rained down metaphorically, the real rain came down literally.  
at this point, tyler was left lying in a puddle contemplating if things could get any worse, when he remembered that a new kid was being roomed him in the Home that night. the kid had been described as "violent" outright, sure but scary for the boy who was destined to be his roommate.  
"hello?"  
tyler came to and the three blurry hands waving above his face blurred into one. a saviour!  
"um, hi," tyler replied, too sore to sit up from his puddle.  
"do you want some help, there?" the other boy asked, lowering his outstretched hand within reach. tyler took the offer, and the boy heaved him up. tyler was shocked by his appearance, he'd expected a quiet, nerdy boy like himself but instead he found himself before a species he had never before encountered. he didn't know what to say. the boy before him was an angel. there was no other way to describe it, he was an angel. he radiated beauty. the thing that initially caught his eye however, was the boys hair. it was the brightest hot pink and it stood on end, it looked so fluffy and tyler reached out and was about to touch it when he noticed how weird that must have looked. in clasic awkward nerdboy style, he passed it off as reaching for his glasses, which the boy held towards him.  
as their hands brushed for that breif moment, both of them felt a similar sinking feeling in their stomachs to sliding down a huge dip on a roller coaster.  
"i'm josh, by the way."  
"t-tyler"


	2. ---

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just some more establishing i guess

as the pair trudged up the steep hill that tyler was now accustomed to having to walk, they discussed a little about their own backgrounds. josh, apparently, had been tossed from foster home to foster home, a suitcase kid with no connectiom to any of his family other than his sister, who he remembered was a fixture in his life until he was separated from her at the age of eight. his story was similar to tyler's, the only difference being that tyler had been orphaned by a car crash, or something, while josh was ejected from a household with an overbearing, abusive father and a mother so quiet he could barely remember. his angst, he told tyler, he expressed through his hatred of the people that had systematically placed him in the care of the shittiest fosterers the could find, and of course his bright hair.  
josh and tyler were similar in many ways, josh just happened to express his anger outwardly, while tyler held his within himself, pointed internally at whatever he could find. he vaguely remembered his father, but with nowhere near as much detail as he'd like to. he was told his father was an artist, a painter, who would never remove his glasses even to clean them. the lenses were smashed beyond repair in the crash, but tyler took comfort in wearing the empty frames. they gave him something to cherish. to care about. something to focus on.  
as they arrived outside the Home, which towered above them, bright red brick against the flat grey sky, the realisation came to the pair of them that they were headed to the same destination. with what little tyler knew, he deducted that josh was in fact the 'violent' new kid who was due to arrive and stay there. but josh wasn't violent! josh was a boy who wore his shirt untucked and his blazer sleeves rolled up. indeed, he had faded remnants of scabby bruises on his knuckles, and a face that suggests he has had quite the beating at some time in his life, but josh couldn't hurt a fly.  
could he?  
tyler was sure he couldn't. but there was something behind the softness in his eyes. and maybe tyler had been living under a rock, but it seemed that every kid in every Home in the north-west had heard something about him. the two walked through the hall, everybody's backs were shoved against the wall. children had their mouths covered and were shoved out of their path.kids who had hit tyler, stolen his stuff, now stood and gazed in awe as a pink haired boy carried his bag and blazer through the house and up the stairs.  
they parted as they reached the landing.  
"well, i have been told this is my room." josh said, handing tyler back his things and opening his door. tyler's door was up another set of stairs, he had been given the loft room to stop the other boys from placing his hands in warm water or hiding things in his bed.  
"josh" tyler called before the door shut.  
"yeah?" josh replied, shoving the door open again.  
"thanks for -uh- helping before"  
"don't worry about it, tyler. they won't be bothering you anymore." josh winked and shut the door. leaving tyler staring after him with pink in his cheeks and desire in his eyes.  
he went to his bed and lay there, thinking about josh.


End file.
